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Re: xinetd license possibly violates DFSG #4



Glenn Maynard writes:

> The only reasons the LGPL is GPL-compatible are 1: the LGPL-to-GPL downgrade
> clause (LGPL#3), and 2: the "operating system" exception (GPL#3), which is
> irrelevant for Debian.  A work under a modified GPL would lose #1, as well,
> so it seems that the LGPL would be incompatible with that license--which
> includes glibc, probably making it practically useless, even if DFSG-free.

Software licensed under a mutant form of the GPL would be of limited
use as free software, but the LGPL (see section 6) only requires the
binary form of a "work that uses the Library" to allow (a) unlimited
use, (b) reverse engineering, and (c) re-linking with a different
version of the Library.  I do not think any program would get into
non-free if it disallowed any of those three requirements.

Michael Poole



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